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Ye Shall Be As Gods? – Class 6, Period 3

"Personality reconditioning," Juli said quietly, as soon as her class had gathered and had settled down, "is what we will be discussing today."

"A person's personality is defined, in its simplest form, as the totality of an individual's behavioural and emotional characteristics. This," a faint smile, "as I'm sure should come as no surprise to any of you, can be altered through various methods--such as drugs, and the like."

"In my universe," Juli told them, "this sort of reconditioning is used instead of capital punishment. If you commit a crime, your mind is rewired to produce a 'new you' that is more beneficial to society. What other uses can you think of for rewriting someone else's mind?"

She leaned folded her hands neatly over her stomach, her eyes sweeping the classroom. “Would you ever alter someone else’s mind?” Pause. “What do you think would drive you to do it? If you are sure you would never do it—and, please, remember that there are no certainties and the universe enjoys making a fool of the best laid plans—consider what might drive someone else to do it. Would you condemn them?”

“After that,” Juli said, “I open the room to discussion about the pros and cons of personality reconditioning. What do you think? Compare and contrast your ideas with your classmates and see if what they say has any impact on your own opinions.”

[~~Wait for the~~ OCD is up! Go to it!]

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Would you ever alter someone else’s mind? What do you think would drive you to do it? Alternatively, what do you think would drive someone else to do it?

Sky considered the question for a while before he answered.

"In my universe, to my knowledge the most we do as far as altering somebody's mind is erasing or modifying memories," he said. "And even then, only in extreme circumstances, such as in cases of time travel, where knowledge of the future or a changed past could have catastrophic consequences. I'd like to say that I would never consider altering somebody's mind, but you also bring up an interesting point with reconditioning, ma'am. I don't think I could ever do it, but as an officer of the law, some days the idea of having one less potential repeat offender on the streets could become tempting."

"It is also," she said, "more cost effective in the long run than keeping them in prison. The modifications range from relatively minor things to a total rehaul of an idividual's nature. Do you think it is wrong, as an idea, in and of itself? Or that, like any tool, it does have it's own place in the scheme of things?"

Sky fiddled with his pencil.

"Minor modifications to somebody certainly has its own place overall," he said. "Completely overhauling somebody's nature is something I can't agree with, though. In fact, I'm conflicted about even slight changes to someone's psyche- as much as I may like to change somebody to not want to commit crimes, I also have to consider the person being modified. Even though the one being modified might not even been aware it's happened, I don't feel as though it's my place to choose what someone's personality should be like, even if it goes toward the peace and order I desire as a police officer."

Juli glanced at him. "But the do know they're modified," she said, "and most of them are told why as well. How does that knowledge affect your opinion?"

"Do you really think changing memories is something trivial?" Naminé said abruptly. "Does the person get to decide? If you're an officer of the law, I would hope you'd be more concerned with protecting people and their basic rights. Including protecting them from people who would change them to fit whatever they've decided is most helpful to society."

"I said it only happens in extreme circumstances," said Sky defensively. "I don't think it's ever been used in my lifetime, or at least since I joined S.P.D., in fact. It's not like we go around zapping people for the fun of it- time travel isn't exactly common. But I believe it's important to make sure the past and the future are preserved the way they're supposed to happen as well- many more lives could be affected."

"Are those you change given the choice?" she asked again. "Informing them is one thing; reaching into someone's mind and rearranging what is there, for your own ends, is something else, no matter how dire the circumstances."

"I don't know," Sky admitted honestly. "I'm not a high enough rank to have ever been put in a position to have to do that to someone. I don't know anybody who has had to do it, either."

"Then I suppose you can't say for sure," Naminé said, lifting a shoulder.

"Control," Naminé said harshly. "Someone's memories and their identity, that makes up who they are. Change them into someone else and you can make them be anyone you want. Anything you want. You can --"

She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. "It's wrong. It's not just wrong, it's horrifying. It's worse than killing the person. It's destroying who they are and turning their shell into your puppet. It's killing them and enslaving their body."

"And if they are a criminal," Juli said, observing with interest the amount of distress this question evoked, "someone who has hurt many people would you say it is more 'wrong' to wipe their mind and give them another chance, than to simply kill them and end all their chances?"

"You aren't giving them another chance," she said sharply. "You're creating a new person, one that you hope conforms to your own little standards, and if that fails, you can always wipe that out and try again. It's barbaric."

"More barbaric than killing people?" Juli asked, already guessing the answer would be 'yes'.

Naminé flinched. "I don't believe it should come to that," she said softly. "That there really is no alternative between death and having your self destroyed. That doesn't seem to be any choice at all."

"It is only," Juli said, "in extreme cases that we go so far as to 'destroy' someone's original self. And, they are always told afterwards what we did and why."

"What kind of a choice would you rather we offer them? It's not an easy thing to decide when people are hurting others and will not stop."

"Have you asked them?" Naminé said, shaking her head. "This isn't rehabilitation. It's cruelty."

"Would I? Probably not, why bother?" Anemone shrugged, not looking up from her coloring. "It's a lot of work, and you can't predict the outcome. At least, not in my world. Besides, even if you get the base persona that you want, you can't control how the environment affects them. Time doesn't hold still just because you want your toy to stay new and shiny."

"And if you say, mind-wiped a murderer," Juli asked, not commenting on the 'toy' part, "do you think they'd still turn out a murderer again?"

"Are you gonna toss them in the same circumstances that made them a murderer in the first place, or are you going to keep an eye on them and make sure those conditions aren't repeated?" she asked, still drawing. "I'm not a doctor, but even I'm bright enough to know that history repeats itself on occasion, if left unchecked."

"No." Anathema summarized stubbornly.

Juli raised her eyebrows, and said mildly, "No, what?"

"It happens." Kabuto shrugged. No, he wasn't feeling like elaborating.

"Any opinion on it either way?" Juli tilted her head at him.

"Not particularly." Which was code for yes, but discussion was unlikely.

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Ye Shall Be As Gods? – Class 6, Period 3

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